If you have to call yourself an " alpha male , " chances are …
Reddit useru/DaveBeYouposed thequestion: “What is just not the ‘flex’ that people think it is?” The thread quickly filled with a variety of interesting and, in some cases, polarizing answers. Here’s what people shared:
1.“My cousin’s husband always brags about what a ‘manly man’ he is and how he’s never changed his daughter’s diaper/bathed her/put her to bed. Their daughter is almost 1, and he never fails to brag about it at every family gathering. I’m not sure why he sees it as a flex? He’s basically bragging about being a terrible father.”
— u / minirose9
" ' I have never changed a diaper , ' or , ' My married woman does all the housekeeping . ' Or , any other matter that translates to , ' I am a POS husband and father . ' "
— u / PlantZawer
2.“Vaping. No one cares that you’re sucking down chemicals. It’s not cooler than smoking.”
— uracil / ImpartialHawk
3.“Proclaiming you’re an ‘alpha male.’ In fact, it makes you look like a complete idiot, and everyone hates you.”
— uranium / jonsbryhill
4.“When adults brag about high school sports achievements — like, that’s their whole personality.”
— atomic number 92 / Willing_Impression_5
" My mother - in - law mentioned how democratic she was in high schooling so often that one day , I said to her , ' Wild how that was half a century ago at this point ! ' I do n’t cogitate she ’s observe it since . "
— uranium / TerraAdAstra
5.“Working 60+ hours a week and ‘grind mentality.’ Don’t get me wrong, I like OT — especially because all of my OT is double time, and I like making the big bucks from time to time — but trying to flex that you work 60+ hours per week and saying that anything less than 60 hours is ‘part-time’ is just plain stupid. You are working your life away and spending more time away from your family. It shows just how underpaid you really are.”
— u / Quinnjamin19
6.“Boasting about how much drinking and weed smoking you can do.”
— u/10_Virtues
7.“Being proud about being ‘brutally honest’ when really, they’re just rude.”
— u / Forsaken_Ambition_83
" I ’ve find people who are ' savagely honest ' run to use that honesty with malicious purpose . And , it ’s not that mass ' ca n’t handle it . ' It ’s just the fact that their honesty is fill with hauteur and ominous spirit . you may be honest with people without being rude about it . "
— uracil / GhostChainSmoker
8.“Teachers bragging about how a high percentage of their class fails every year.”
— u / riphitter
9.“Having a bunch of kids.”
— u / mox44ah
" I ’ve realized the mass who kick about having a bunch of kids are the same people who want to pressure me to have a second kid . It ’s so plaguy . "
— u / mangopepperjelly
" My relative who complain about how their four kids have pull their business firm apart and how they have n’t slept in a tenner always go on to try and pressure me into having tyke . No thank you ? "
— atomic number 92 / Lilroundbirdy
10."‘I haven’t read a book since high school.’ This is not a flex. Not being interested in reading, having issues with it, or having dealt with crappy teachers who ruined it for you is one thing, but saying it like you’re proud of it tells me a lot about the type of person you are. None of it is good."
— u / Kissowa
11.“Never taking your PTO.”
— uracil / sirZofSwagger
" My dad argues with me all the time . ' Off again ? I do n’t know how you’re able to do that all the time . You ’ve taken off more this year than I have in the preceding decade . ' I say , ' I earned it . I pay my dues , I go to oeuvre , and this is what we get . ' ' Oh , so just because you have the meter , you just HAVE to use it ? ' Damn right . He is maxed out on PTO , and it ’s a use - or - fall behind berth . He just lose it every yr , then mouth crap about his coworkers who burn the conflict , like , ' Oh , he does that all the time . I do n’t see the point of taking holiday just to burn the time . It ’s not like they ’re actually going on vacation . ' "
— u / illthrowawaysomeday
12.“Couples who are miserable, but brag about how many years they’ve been together.”
— uracil / ZenSalts
" They always apply their day of remembrance to speak about how much they ca n’t support each other , too . ' We ’ve had our ups and Down , and we often do n’t get along . But , between all the yelling and fighting and detachment , we ’ve made it bring ! Love you , babe ! Thanks for doing life with me ! Happy Anniversary ! ' "
— u / LizardPossum
13."‘One-upmanship.’ Good grief. People think making someone else look like less than them makes them ‘cool.’ Umm, no, it makes you look INSECURE."
— uracil / Melodic_Bear4259
" I have a endearing friend who does this . For example , a few years back , I ran my first 10 kelvin in a little under an hr . When I told everyone , my friend respond with , ' I course my last 10 super acid in 35 minutes ; it was n’t even that hard . ' Well , no kidding , Bethany ; you ’re a professional triathlete . "
— uranium / Additional_Crazy_522
14.“Having a huge, expensive wedding when you’re not a wealthy person.”
— uracil / lazyluxe11
" Also , having a vast , expensive hymeneals when youarea moneyed person . "
— u / MrSubterranean
15.“Driving a Tesla.”
— uranium / norris528e
16.“People who think it’s so cool that they ‘stole’ someone’s significant other is cringe to me.”
— atomic number 92 / pictorial - Possibility324
17."‘I have a genius-level IQ.’ Firstly, no you don’t, or you wouldn’t be saying it. Secondly, where did you get this info from? Because if it’s something on the internet, they say everyone is a genius so you’ll brag about it and share it. Thirdly, intelligence is so complicated; any single number is virtually meaningless. There are so many metrics for intelligence that you can be high in some and low in others, come out average, and still be an amazing prodigy at one thing. Or, you may be brilliant at most things, but not know which foot to put your shoes on."
— u / MsAndrea
" My firstborn buddy isconstantlytalking about his IQ , what he personally guess it to be ( well above genius - story , naturally ) , and asks others about theirs dismissively . He ’s in his LXXX now , and his life-time has been a serial of escalate failures and deserve comeuppances so knockout that he take flight the country , but he ’s positive that because a personality test flattered him at some point in the past tense , he ’s inherently superior to 99 % of people and all but unquestionable . I told him once that he ’d be so much more impressive if he was n’t so clearly impressed with himself , and he wasfurious . genuinely intelligent people do n’t have to constantly talk about how intelligent they believe they are ; they just do reasoning thing and enjoy involved activity and hobbies . "
— uranium / OneWholeSoul
18.“How many followers you have.”
— u / TonyClifton323
19.“‘We’re like family here.’ We’re coworkers who work for an organization that pays us money on a contractual basis. Relationships will always have a limit. It’s not family. And, if you feel like it is, you might want to protect yourself."
— uracil / feeflet
20.“People who say they don’t read instructions.”
— u / vidvicious
21.“People who describe themselves as an ‘empath’ in the first few minutes of meeting them. Most just have a lot of unresolved trauma and talk incessantly about themselves.”
— u / Dry - Ad-2642
" Funnily enough , every ego - proclaimed ' empath ' I ’ve ever met had virtually no cognitive empathy skills , just pure , unadulterated projection . "
— uranium / moon - brains
22.“Taking pictures with stacks of money. Real rich people have these things called bank accounts.”
— uranium / TheSissyDoll
23.“Personal plates on a car.”
— u / THEBIGREDAPE
24.And: “Toxic positivity. It’s all centered around pretending that you can control things you can’t control. People who believe this stuff come unglued when they have a real tragedy. Sometimes, bad things happen to you with no warning, for no reason, there was no way to avoid it, and there’s no way to fix it. It’s OK to feel sad and angry about that. Telling people who are struggling that they can just choose not to struggle makes you sound like an idiot.”
— uracil / notreallylucy
Are there any other “flexes” people brag about that aren’t actually flexes at all?
Note : Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity .
